1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to cooking pans and more particularly to an improved cooking pan assembly having inner and outer members with a pressurized steam heating space formed therebetween for quickly and safely cooking sauces and the like, at temperatures above 300 degrees F.
2. Description of Related Art
Many types of heating assemblies, including double boilers or cooking vessels are known, having inner members inserted in outer members. Water is inserted in one of the members, such as the outer member and the outer member is heated to heat the water for various reasons, including the cooking of food items placed in the inner member of such double boilers. The inner and outer members of known heating assemblies are connected together in various fashions and generally include one or more covers added or secured to the top of either or both the inner member and the outer member. Some of the known double boilers also include openings connecting the interior of the inner and outer members to allow steam from the heated water in the space between the members to enter the interior of the inner member to steam food items held in the inner member.
However, as the popularity of eating out as well as cooking gourmet meals at home has increased over the years, the need for a cooking utensil which quickly and safely cooks food items such as sauces and the like without burning them, has also risen significantly. The currently available cooking vessels or double boilers have proven to be useful in heating or steaming some food items, but lacking in quickly heating or cooking food items such as sauces and the like. Therefore, many cooks or chefs have had to make do with available saucepans, and/or resort to other slow cooking methods and/or systems in an effort to prepare sauces and soups. Although these known pans do enable a cook or chef to prepare such food items, they do not allow the flavors of the sauces or soups to be ideally blended together, nor do they easily and quickly cook such items in a consistent manner. Therefore, there exists the need for a simple, low-cost and easy to manufacture and use cooking pan or system, useful in many situations, but which is particularly useful for cooking sauces and soups, so as to provide flavorful, consistent, quality sauces and soups in as short a time as possible, with an emphasis on safety.
Examples of known prior art heating assemblies of double boilers are shown in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,057,603 to Isreeli, 3,539,075 to Bautista, 3,641,992 to Peyser et al, 4,331,127 to Grosso, 4,574,776 to Hidle, 4,604,989 to Kita, 4,823,980 to Ejiri and 5,092,229 to Chen. These patents, however, fail to disclose a cooking vessel for food items such as sauces or the like having an open inner pan utilizing only high temperature steam to quickly and consistently heat the pan, equally from the sides as well as below, to produce high temperatures which ideally cook sauces and the like to produce consistently better tasting food items without burning.